Boone was sitting on one of the cots leaning back against the wall, Shannon sitting beside him; he was watching her feed Andrew. He knew that as soon as they got back to civilization she'd switch the baby over to formula. She hated breast feeding; saying that she found it so demeaning; he didn't really get that at all. He often wondered what she'd been doing when they handed out the maternal instinct that she so obviously lacked. Probably shopping, he'd always figured.
The message was clutched in his hand. Boone reached forward and pulled her hair back, tucking it behind her ear so he could see her profile. God, he thought, it still amazed him that, impossibly, she loved him.
Shannon glanced at him, smiling softly. He'd been quiet since learning of the call from Sabrina. She wondered what he was thinking; then turned back to the baby.
'You're wondering what I'm thinking?' he frowned.
She shrugged.
"You don't already know?" he teased.
"Sometimes I allow you your privacy. I like to keep you on your toes, that way you never know when 'Big Brother' is watching, or listening." She said loftily, shooting a grin back in his direction.
Boone didn't know if she was making a reference to the reality T.V. show or the book 1984. Most probably the former, he decided, he couldn't picture her reading George Orwell, George Harrison maybe, Orwell never.
He chuckled, if there was one thing she was good at, it was keeping him off balance. "I was just thinking that I still can't believe that you love me," he leaned forward and kissed her temple.
"And what are you going to do about that?" she nodded toward the piece of paper.
He took a deep breath before answering. "You know, I loved my job, every day I went in there, I loved it. I know I shocked pretty much everyone, I was so young, and the owner's son, they all expected that it'd just be a figurehead position. Let the mama's boy in the corner office come in every day, put in his eight hours surfing the internet, calling bimbos for dates, whatever," he shrugged, "and then get in his fancy car and go home. But I didn't do that; I was good, really, really good at it. They all respected me, I was the go to guy, it was exciting." He paused. "I can't see myself doing it anymore. It all seems so empty and pointless, just pushing paper." He stared off into space for a while. "Look at these people, Shan." He shook his head then turned to her; she handed Andrew over and started adjusting her top. "Can you honestly see any of them pulling a nine to five ever again after what we've been through?"
"Not really." Shannon realized he was right.
"And yet, sadly, most of them are going to have to. That's where we're different, I don't have to, the advantages of wealth; sometimes you take them for granted. On the island it was a level playing field, I wasn't any different from anybody else, but we're not on the island anymore, and now suddenly I have choices that they don't; doesn't seem fair, somehow." Boone stared at the floor.
"What's that got to do with whether you call your mother back or not?" she wasn't following.
"I don't want to face reality, I guess. I'm going to have to tell her I'm not coming back to work for her. I know I should have discussed it with you, it's not the kind of decision I can make on my own anymore, we're a couple now, and I know I need to run all the major stuff by you, I'm sorry. Is it okay if I don't go back?" he asked.
Shannon was touched he'd been worried that he'd made the choice on his own. "Of course. Boone it's still your life, I may be more of a part of it now than I was in the past, but, bottom line, you do what you need to. If you don't want to go back to work for your mother, then don't." Shannon was actually relieved that she was getting him away from the bitch.
He reach out and cupped her cheek briefly, then took a deep breath, before continuing. "Then there's us, not just you and me and how we are now, how our relationship's changed, but all three of us. You think that's not going to rock her foundation?"
"You could say he's someone else's, and we just took him in," she offered, joking.
"Yeah, I could," he laughed. "She'd so buy that, it'd explain everything, like why you're lactating and he's got my grey eyes, yeah, I can totally see her falling for it."
"So you're not going to call her." She surmised.
"It's chicken shit of me, I know that, but no, I'm not. It's not like I'd actually tell her any of that on the phone, but just talking to her would make it front and centre, and I want to postpone that a little if I can." Boone crumpled the paper and threw it in a trashcan. "We should get some sleep, to say it's been a pretty exciting day would be putting it mildly."
A couple of collapsible cribs had been brought down from the ship's daycare for Aaron and Andrew, Boone settled their son in one of them while Shannon pushed two of the cots together. They lay down and tried to get comfortable, as someone killed the lights, and silence fell over the room. They both stared at the ceiling, close but not able to snuggle together because of the construction of the cots. After half an hour, Boone lifted his head and looked over at her. 'I can't sleep.'
'Me neither.' She admitted. 'I miss your arm around me, and the sounds of the night.'
They gathered blankets and pillows and the baby and crept as quietly as they could out of the gym and up to the deck of the ship. Finding a spot near one of the pools where two walls met creating a sheltering corner, they curled up spooned together and finally dozed off.
The next morning, Jack awoke to the sight of the Purser leaning over him. "Dr. Sheppard?"
Jack shook off the last remnants of sleep. "Yeah?"
"Several of your people went up to sleep on the deck during the night, the staff needs to set up for today, but they're kind of in the way." The man apologized. "I thought it might be best if you woke them."
"Okay, no problem," Jack responded, sighing, when was the unwanted additional responsibility going to end?
He found his way to the deck, and stood there for a moment trying to get a read on where he thought everyone was; then headed over to the pool area.
He bent down and touched Boone's shoulder.
In the time between one heartbeat and the next, Jack was on his back, Boone's knife at his throat.
The crewmember who'd been approaching with an armload of towels, dropped them to the deck and stared in shocked horror, frozen to the spot.
Jack's eyes were huge; he was breathing rapidly, "Boone, it's Jack."
The boy was on his knees; Shannon was crouched by his side, ready to run. Boone looked down into the familiar face and relaxed, sitting back on his legs. He was shaking as the adrenaline coursed through him. Shannon sat down and leaned against his shoulder, her breathing unsteady.
Jack sat up, cursing himself for becoming lax in the civilized environment. Of course Boone would react the same way he would have reacted on the island when roused suddenly from sleep. "I'm sorry, I should have known better." He apologized.
Boone nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, taking a deep breath.
The crewmember couldn't understand why the guy who'd been attacked was apologizing. He shook himself and bent to retrieve the dropped towels, getting on with his job. This was certainly going to prove to be interesting gossip for when he met his friends after his shift, he reflected.
Something suddenly occurred to Jack. "Why did you have your knife out? I thought I told you to keep it in your bag."
Boone shrugged, "Force of habit, I guess. Honestly, I don't even remember taking it out."
Jack reached out and patted him on the shoulder, rising. "Put it away, Boone." The young man nodded.
After breakfast Shannon suggested shopping. Boone agreed after adding the restriction that they'd only buy a few things. "We're going to be paying ridiculous prices for stuff, Shan. We're like a captive audience."
"You are, without a doubt, the most pathetic rich person I've ever met." She huffed a sigh, and capitulated to his imposed limitation.
They found the shopping concourse without any trouble this time, and she immediately headed for a lingerie store. Boone slumped his shoulders in resignation and followed in her wake.
He watched for a bit while she browsed through the place, then decided to look through it on his own. He was feeling much better, that morning he'd taken two more of the pills that Jack had given him the night before, and had, happily, left the cane behind. His leg was throbbing some, but he was barely limping at all. Something in one of the displays caught his eye and he headed toward it.
"Hey, doofus, what do you think of these?" Shannon was standing in front of him with a handful of items.
He nodded, smiling and then held out what he'd picked out for her, waiting for her reaction.
She laughed as she looked at the red silk panties and matching bra. "You're kidding, right?"
Boone was confused, "No. Don't you like them?"
"Yeah, of course I like them. I just always pictured you as a basic, standard, white cotton kind of guy." She looked at him like he was a stranger.
"I guess you don't know me as well as you'd like to think." He smirked.
"I guess I don't," she raised her eyebrows at him, amused and intrigued that there were facets to him that she'd yet to discover.
At the cashier, she frowned at him. "Aren't you getting anything?"
"I wasn't planning on it."
"Boone, you're wearing some dead guys' underwear, for Christ's sake, get yourself some new ones." She commented, completely freaking out the sales girl. He was so clueless, Shannon thought. He'd never found his luggage, so everything he'd worn since the crash had come from salvage.
They moved on to a jeans store, picking out pants, shorts and t-shirts. They had a momentary scare, as the guy behind the counter had slammed the cash drawer a little too forcefully, causing them to jump, but all in all it had gone pretty well.
The afternoon found them back by the pool. The ship was docked in one of it's scheduled ports of call, just because it had picked up the survivors from Oceanic Flight 815, didn't mean that it didn't have a prior commitment to its' paying customers. That meant that there were only a handful of people on the deck, and ninety-five percent of them were from their group. Boone swam lengths in the pool for an hour while Shannon gossiped with some of the other women. She'd only been sitting there for five minutes when she casually removed her bikini top. The bartender was just approaching to tell her that topless sunbathing was only allowed at the rooftop pool, when three other women followed her lead. He spun on his heel and headed back to the bar, rationalizing that four against one odds weren't something he was willing to take on, especially when the four were topless women. If anyone complained, and he couldn't image that happening, he'd speak to them then.
Tiring of the water, Boone picked up the reading material he'd gotten from the ship's library, and settled back into a lounge chair to see what he could learn about what had happened in the world since they'd disappeared. Damn, he'd missed the final instalment to the Star Wars saga; he'd have to be sure to pick up a copy, and the Red Sox had finally won the World Series, he wondered if Jack knew. Shannon was lying face down on the lounge chair beside him. He checked on Andrew, making sure he was out of the direct sunlight and safely in the shade. He was such a good baby, Boone thought, they were so lucky. After reading for a while, he got restless and got up went to stand at railing of the ship, staring down at the sight on the pier, so many people, such a cacophony; he flinched at the loudness of it, thinking of how L.A. was going to be one hundred times worse.
Boone felt her approach, just before she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her naked breasts into his back. Shannon kissed the back of his ear; he closed his eyes and moaned quietly, tipping his head back into her. He crossed his arms in front of himself, hugging hers arms against him, lacing his fingers with hers, bringing one hand up and kissing her palm.
"You think you could get one of the women to watch the baby for a while?" He wondered.
"Why, what did you have in mind?" she played along.
"I don't suppose you remember where that maintenance closet is?" he asked casually.
"You're incorrigible." She replied with a chuckle, nipping gently at his neck.
"That's a pretty big word for you." He laughed and turned to kiss her. "Baby sitter? Now?"
She nodded, sliding her hand between them, cupping him through his swim trunks.
Minutes later, Shannon's bikini top back in place, they headed hand-in-hand into the ship.